1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet post-process apparatus or the like which conducts a post process of a sheet, such as a sheet of paper, etc., to be discharged from an image forming apparatus, such as a composite apparatus of a copying machine, a printer, a multi function peripheral (MFP), and so on.
2. Description of the Related Art
A post-process apparatus (finisher) which conducts a process (staple process) for bundling and fixing a plurality of sheets printed by the MFP, is known. The finisher sequentially conveys the sheets fed from the MFP to a process tray, binds the sheets by a stapler, and delivers the stapled sheets to a delivery tray.
Since a binding process by the stapler exists in this post process of the finisher, it needs a delaying mechanism for absorbing a process speed in the MFP. Therefore, a technology for lengthening a conveying path is known (refer to Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-99070). For this reason, it has been difficult to sufficiently reduce the size of the apparatus.
Furthermore, an apparatus for delivering a sheet to an accumulation tray is known as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 10-279160, but the apparatus is not sufficient.